Joining the PS2 Team

**Malorn** · 2012-10-08, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Sco

My questions is on BR - What do you think about BR, what ideas do you have to make it more useful other than a stat and a minor implant requirement? For example, should it be an XP based stat for killing higher level opponents?

I don't think I'll be involved much in BR as that's more of a character progression thing. You might want to ask Nak or Matt about that one for a better answer on where they want to go with it.

But to me BR is a way of gating things based on time played. Since BR accumulates over time as you gain score I think it can be translated into an average time played. That means it can be used as a tool to allow access to things to players who have played longer in the game.

Early on, like over a year ago, it was described that BR unlocked deeper levels of certification, so while you might have a lot of cert points to get the really deep stuff you need to have some minimal battle rank.

Mules are one reason you might want this. For example, suppose that the Galaxy squad spawn cert is something they didn't want new players to just sit around, soak up certs, and then use dummy characters to be gal pilots and squad spawns. They could use BR to gate the cert, so you not only had to pay the cert cost, but you also had to have a high BR. That would mean only dedicated players would be realistically getting it. So it is an effective way to stop muling of certain things. That might also mean that the cert doesn't have to be super expensive - it could be cheap but have a BR requirement. Some command-related certs might be another example of certs that they may want to restrict to characters who have spent some time in the game actively earning points as opposed to sitting offline accumulating cert points passively.

They could restrict outfit creation on at least a few BR to stop name squatting and other such things.They could also gate weapons and cosmetic customizations on BR. Not saying they will, but it's possible.

BR translates to game commitment, and there are some things that make sense to restrict to players who have existed for a while or put forth some minimal amount of effort. This is especially true in a free-to-play game. Not sure if that's where they're going with it but I see a purpose for it and the value in having it.